Cupboard Cuisine: Sweet and Spicy Tomato Soup

Take: an onion; 2-3 cloves of garlic; 8-10 tomatoes; a squidge of tomato puree; some fruit juice or cooking water (like rhubarb water left over from your Boozy Rhubarb!); 2 small handfuls of red lentils; black pepper; and some spices – a good pinch or so each of ground ginger, ground coriander, cinnamon and garum masala.

1. Peel and chop the onion and garlic. Chop the tomatoes.
2. Place all the ingredients in a saucepan, using enough liquid to cover the other ingredients well.
3. Cook for 20 minutes or so, until the lentils are done – the lentils will have absorbed much of the water, leaving a thick mixture, so you need to keep an eye on the pan to avoid burning!
4. Liquidise.
5. Serve hot with big hunks of crusty bread.

Serves 3-4 people.

PORTION CONTROL
Don’t worry if you make more than you can eat. This stuff is very versatile as leftovers: use it as a pasta sauce; bung it in a stew or a bolognaise or a chilli, to add richness and flavour; mix it with cooked pepper, courgette and the like to create a sort of makeshift ratatouille thing. The possibilities are endless. Mmm, leftovers. 🙂